Bittersweet Memories
by The-Other-Ghostwriter
Summary: Final saga to "Bittersweet Sugar". The Professor is dying, and he thinks back on the adventures, the good, the bad, and the downright weird, that he had with his family. Angst ahoy.


**Memories

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**

It had been hard for Professor Utonium, letting all of his girls leave the nest. First Bubbles, then Buttercup, and then Blossom had been the last to go. Two of his girls were married, and the last engaged. Nonetheless, the Professor was happy for them. Still, he got very lonely at times.

Often, he thought about performing his experiment again; making new Perfect Little Girls. But he never did. No one could replace his three little angels.

He was content with his life on the whole, but one day, he began to experience crippling headaches and fainting spells. When he finally went to the doctor, he got the worst of diagnosis.

A brain tumor.

Where it had come from, he couldnt say. But from what the doctor saw, he gave the Professor one month to live--tops. He had gone home and sat in stony silence for the longest time before deciding to tell his family as soon as possible. He wanted to spend as much time with them as he could before he died. Their reactions to his predicament were varied.

Blossom was in denial, and kept insisting that the doctors were wrong, and that she would find a cure herself.

Buttercup was mostly silent. But the Professor could see that his toughest girl was constantly on the verge of tears and a violent tantrum at the unfairness of it.

Bubbles cried so hard when she heard, and even offered to let her husband help him with it. The Professor politely refused, knowing how those predicaments often ended.

But as he wanted, he spent so much time with his daughters that he never realized how much he loved them--or how much he would miss them. They had a lot of fun, and after a few weeks, they had almost forgotten that he even had a brain tumor. That is...until just three weeks later, the Professor had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital, all three of his daughters being forced to wait in the waiting room for the prognosis of what was happening to their father.

He was dying already. That was what the doctor told the Professor. He had two days at most left. By the time he had come out of his seizure-induced sleep, visiting hours were over, leaving him alone to think about his daughters...hell, his whole family.

Bubbles...sweet little Bubbles... He had been so upset when he had heard the sweetest of his girls had died. But then she came back, had that ultimate battle in Hell with her other father, Mojo, and then gotten married to the devil Him. She was now one of the demon-folk by marriage, and was expected to live for eternity. But nothing about her sweet personality changed an iota. Her marriage to Him even seemed to soften the demon out, especially since they became parents.

The Professor's first granddaughter...Jojo. Named after her grandfather, the little demi-demon, now 11 years old, was going to school up on Earth ("For better social skills," Bubbles had said.). She was a lot like her biological grandfather, in that she liked to over analyze things, and she had a habit of repetitive speech patterns. But she had Bubbles' sweet personality and Him's cataclysmic temper when mad, and everyone loved her. She was still deciding whether she wanted to be a hero like her mother, or a ruler of a Circle of Hell like her father. It was a tough call.

Bubbles and Him were talking about having another child, but so far, no second child had been produced.

Buttercup was married to Ace, and was now the mother of _four_ children, to everyone's shock. Aged 10, 8, 6, and 2, little Spade (the oldest, a boy), Jack (the second-oldest, also a boy), Diamond (third-oldest, the only girl), and Knave (youngest), they were a little gang in and of themselves. All four of them had black hair, green eyes, and olive-colored skin that wasnt quite green, but not quite normal-colored, either. Diamond was the only child that inherited Ace's personality, and she seemed to be the designated leader of her siblings. She was also the only one who could fly. Knave was very independent, and hated having help with anything. He had super strength and the worst temper. Spade had an incredible sense of justice, and already proclaimed that he was going to become a cop when he grew up, and he was the best fighter and he had X-ray vision. Jack was the only one who could curl his tongue. And that was it. Not that he cared, he was the only one of his siblings that made straight A's in school.

Buttercup and Ace's club chain was booming, and they were very well-to-do. Ace usually worked at home on the paperwork and office stuff to spend the time with his kids like his own father never did, while Buttercup usually took care of the major business deal-cutting part, since she could travel to the other end of the country and back before lunchtime.

As for Blossom, she had gotten her Doctorate, and was now called Dr. Utonium. She was engaged to her fiance, Dexter, and they planned a spring wedding. She and the Professor had discussed it in a one-on-one conversation, and he told her to ask Mojo to walk her down the aisle, since he wouldnt live to see it. She had sobbed, saying that it wasnt fair that she was the only one of her sisters whose father didnt walk them down the aisle on her wedding. The Professor just hugged her and told her to name one of her kids after him. That made her laugh and perk up a little.

As for Mojo, the Professor had developed a deep friendship with the former ape. They were colleagues in the same university, and they were both the favorite teachers in the subjects they taught. When Mojo had come to see him, the Professor had pulled Mojo aside and asked him to walk Blossom down the aisle for him on her wedding day. Mojo had been touched, and had agreed wholeheartedly.

For the longest time, Mojo, like the Professor, had not had much luck in his love life. But one day, at the Townsville Teacher's Convention, where every teacher and instructor assembled at the community center, he had met another teacher who was very impressed with the way he worked. They began dating for awhile, and then Mojo had popped the question while they were out to eat on their three-year anniversary.

Mojo's and Miss Keane's wedding was scheduled for the year after Blossom's wedding.

He smiled in the darkness, feeling a tear run down his face as he thought about what a great family and life he had had up to this point...

* * *

The Professor must have fallen asleep, because he woke up to find his whole family in the room with him. Bubbles was being coddled by Him (who had taken on His human disguise that had been used solely for the purpose of parent/teacher conferences), and she was crying. Jojo was asleep, cuddling up to Mojo, who held her in his lap. Buttercup and Ace were talking over something while their four children were gathered around the Professor's bed, wondering if Grandpops was up yet. Blossom was being comforted by Dexter who was assuring her that things would be alright.

"Yo, Grandpops is up!" Jack exclaimed to everyone. They all turned and looked at the Professor, who smiled at them all.

"How is everyone?" he asked, his voice weak. Blossom sat down on the chair next to his bed and held his hand.

"Holding up," she said, tears running down her face. "...How do you feel?"

"Weak," the Professor replied. "...But happy." At her confused expression, he smiled and reached over to wipe the tears from her eyes, with difficulty. "...Blossom, I'm happy because I have my whole family here....my three beautiful daughters...my sons-in-law...my grandchildren...my friends.....what better way to go, than to be surrounded by people I love?"

Blossom burst into tears, as did most everyone else in the room, save Him, who almost never cried, Jojo, who was still asleep, but too used to the dead by now to be scared by death anyway, and Mojo, who hated appearing upset in front of his granddaughter. The Professor stroked her face with his fingertips.

"How about a hug for me, from my daughters and grandkids?"

Blossom hugged him first, then backed up so Buttercup, then Bubbles could give him a big hug. Spade, Jack, Diamond, and Knave jumped up on the bed to hug their grandfather, then Mojo woke up Jojo so she could give him a hug, too. Jojo kissed the Professor's cheek and smiled sweetly at him.

"...I'm happy," she whispered, her green eyes alight with otherworldly wisdom no child should possess. "....Because I know that I wont have to see you when we go back home." As creepy as that sounded, the Professor smiled back and ruffled her hair.

"Glad to hear it," he said, as Him picked his daughter up, giving the Professor a sad but knowing look. The Professor returned it. Him had come to the Professor just a week ago, asking Him if there was anything He could do. The Professor politely declined. He told Him that he was happy with his life, and that it was his time to go, and to give Bubbles his condolences.

The Professor looked around at his family, feeling his heart weaken yet lighten. He was lucky enough to have had such adventures with these people; the bad, and the good. And they were all here with him. What more could a man want?

He didnt have time to ponder an answer to that question before everything went black.

* * *

Life went on.

Blossom married Dexter, and was walked down the aisle by Mojo. It was a happy day for her, and she felt even more love for Dexter when he dedicated their new life to the memory of a fellow genius. They had moved into the Professor's old house, which he left to her in his will, and eleven months later, Blossom kept her promise to name her first son after her father.

Buttercup and Ace continued their trade, and _Ace of Spades_ went international. Their first club in Europe was opened in the memory of Professor Utonium. They also had a fifth child, a girl named Heart, who not only inherited _all_ of Buttercup's power (sans the tongue-curling) , but what appeared to be the Professor's ecstatic nature. Buttercup made Ace get a vasectomy just hours after she gave birth to Heart.

Bubbles and Him finally did have their second child, another girl that was born with blonde hair, black eyes with blue whites, and pinkish-colored skin who loved to wear clothes that one would describe as...odd. She was very fond of feather boas, beating up her uncles, the Rowdyruff Demons (their new group name) without mercy for no apparent reason, and summoning demons to terrorize Townsville. Him and Bubbles put a stop to that behavior as soon as she turned four, and after that, she just contented herself with beating up her uncles and bossing them around to do her bidding. They decided to name the child Her, after Him.

Mojo and Miss Keane (or now, Mrs. Jojo) got married about a year after Blossom's wedding, but it was interrupted right in the middle of the ceremony when Blossom went into labor. They finished up the wedding at the hospital. Neither of them had any children of their own, but they were fine with that. They were both teachers, after all, and were content with the children they taught.

The second generation all grew up to their own devices.

Jojo decided to permanently stay up on Earth to do good, and was now an officer in the SHOCS (Super Hero/ine-Occupation Cop Squad), where she is partnered with her cousin Spade, who, after hitting puberty, discovered he could produce electricity as a secondary power next to his X-ray vision and his extraordinary fighting skills. They were the two best officers in the Squad.

Jack became an intellectual, and eventually developed an interest in 'mad scientist' experiments. He accidentally created the cure to the common cold.

Diamond became the leader of an all-girl gang of vigilante left wing do-gooders called the Whoop-Ass Girls. Ace said that he'd never been more proud.

Knave became a professional superhuman cagefigher, his super-strength and temper earning him the World Title 10 times since he turned 16.

Heart became a partner in her parent's club business, and opened up her own chain later on in her life, called the _Two of Hearts_.

Blossom's child also became a scientist like both of his parents, and a bit of a geek, and liked to create giant robots just for fun. He became quite popular in Japan.

Her eventually grew up to take up her father's mantle as a ruler of a Circle in Hell, her three minions being her uncles. She was the only one of her cousins (or sister) who became something of a villain, and she grew up beautiful and deadly, dressing just like her father (only more feminine, if that was even possible) and creating chaos just for fun. She was also her under worldly grandfathers' favorite.

But every year, on the same day, everyone gathered in the cemetery to pay their respects to their dead family member; without whom, some would have never found happiness, most would never have been born, and all would have never lived the lives they all loved.

All in the memory of Professor Utonium.

The Power Prof.

Beloved Father, Grandfather, and Friend.

Never Forgotten.

* * *

**Well, there...made something angsty. Yay.**


End file.
